PepsiCo pulls Mountain Dew ad after being called 'arguably the most racist commercial in history'

An ad for Mountain Dew was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence toward women.

The 60-second spot was pulled and features a battered white woman on crutches being urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men.

A goat character known as Felicia is included in the lineup and makes threatening comments to the woman, such as "Ya better not snitch on a playa" and "Keep ya mouth shut."

Syracuse professor Boyce Watkins, an outspoken social critic, called the commercial "arguably the most racist commercial in history."

"Mountain Dew has set a new low for corporate racism," Watkins said. "Their decision to lean on well-known racial stereotypes is beyond disgusting. This doesn't even include the fact that the company has put black men on par with animals."

Pepsi released a statement.

"We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended," Pepsi told AdWeek.

On Twitter, Mountain Dew called the ad a "big mistake."

"We apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well." Jen Ryan, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo told Yahoo! Shine in a statement.

The ad was not slated to run on television.

The commercial has been pulled from many web sites, but as of this posting, it can still be seen here.